Events
The Nature Club holds regularly scheduled events like the Environmental Commission Conference throughout each year. Every year on the first Saturday in March, we hold the East Coast Vulture Festival in conjunction with the Wenonah Environmental Commission. On the first Saturday in May, we hold Gloucester County BirdQuest. Also in May, we hold our annual plant sale at the regular May club meeting. In the summer we offer a series of special fieldtrips and every winter we hold the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. For more information on each of these events you can look to our most recent newsletter or check here again in the next few weeks for updates to this page.
Upcoming Events
Audubon Christmas Bird Count - Saturday December 20th, Dawn ‘til Dusk
Looking for a holiday tradition that doesn’t include going to the mall? The Christmas Bird Count may be for you. The Audubon Christmas Bird Count was started in 1900 and the Gloucester County Nature Club coordinates the Gloucester County count. Groups will divide up a 15-mile count circle and take a census all the birds seen. Many groups will begin or end their day searching for owls, and use the daylight hours to identify raptors, warblers, sparrows, great blue herons, and many other birds. We invite you to join us in this wonderful tradition by joining one of the groups. The starting and ending time for each group is decided by the team organizer(s); generally it is at least dawn to dusk but that will vary by team. The National Audubon Society requires a $5 fee of all participants that is used for administrative costs. If you’d like to join the Count, please call Ron Kegel at (856) 881-9262.
New! Birdquest '09: The event on May 2, 2009 will mark the 10th anniversary of the Gloucester County Bird Quest. We have many special events to help celebrate this year. To find out more, click on the following link: Birdquest '09.
Upcoming Events by other organizations
January 7 (Wednesday) - Insects in Winter Hike. 9:00 - 11:00 AM. Sponsored by the Palmyra Cove Nature Park. $8, free to PCNP members. For info: http://palmyracove.org/.
January 7 (Wednesday) - New Jersey Native American Indian Artifacts. 6:00 - 9:00 PM West Deptford Library, 420 Crown Point Road, Thorofare, NJ. Sponsored by the Gloucester County Chapter of the Archaeology Society of New Jersey. For info call Guy DiGuigno at 856-845-6058.
January 12 (Monday) - Whooping It Up! A presentation on Whooping Cranes. 7:30 PM at the Collingswood Library, 771 Haddon Ave, Collingswood NJ. Sponsored by the Audubon Wildlife Society. For info: http://www.audubonwildlifesociety.org.
January 14 (Wednesday) - Fox Hike. 9:00 - 11:00 AM. Sponsored by the Palmyra Cove Nature Park. $Fee, Free to PCNP members. For info: http://palmyracove.org/.
January 15 (Thursday) – Owl Prowl. 6:00 - 8:00 PM. Sponsored by the Palmyra Cove Nature Park. $Fee, Free to PCNP members. Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center will hold a live owl presentation, followed by an hour-long outdoor owl prowl. For info: http://palmyracove.org/.
January 17 (Saturday) – Birding at Barnegat Light Inlet. Trip Leader: Lloyd Shaw. Sponsored by the Burlington County Natural Sciences Club. For info: http://oldsquaw.tripod.com.
January 17 (Saturday) - Beginning Birding for Adults. 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM. Sponsored by the Palmyra Cove Nature Park. $Fee, Free to PCNP members. For info: http://palmyracove.org/.
January 21 (Wednesday) - Animals in Winter Hike. 9:00 AM - 11:00AM. Sponsored by the Palmyra Cove Nature Park. $Fee, Free to PCNP members. For info: http://palmyracove.org/.
January 25 (Sunday) - Salem County Winter Raptors. 12:00 noon - 6:00 PM. Leader: Sandra Keller. Sponsored by the Rancocas Nature Center. $Fee. For info: http://njaudubon.org/centers/rancocas/.
January 28 (Wednesday) - Daytime Owl Prowl. 9:00 AM - 11:00AM. Sponsored by the Palmyra Cove Nature Park. $Fee, Free to PCNP members. For info: http://palmyracove.org/.
The following events take place at the Scotland Run Nature Center in Clayton. For details and to register, call the center at (856) 881-0845. All events are free.
Bird Walks: Saturday 1/10 at 8:00 AM
Trim-a-Tree for Wildlife: Saturday 1/10 at 10:30 AM
Afternoon Nature Strolls: Wednesday 1/21 at 2:30 PM
Family Nature Adventure: Saturday 1/24 at 10:30 AM
Nature Tots: Wednesday 1/14 at 10:00 AM
4H Kids Nature Club Meeting: Saturday 1/10 at 10:30 AM
Scout Saturday: Saturday 1/17 at 10:00 AM
Past Nature Club Events
The 9th annual Gloucester County BirdQuest was held on Saturday May 3, 2008.
We had 275 participants who saw 124 different bird species. It was an unusually cool start to the day with a light shower here and there. There were three buses with over ninety people spread on those three buses. It seems the winter birds lingered around long enough to be counted by many people the day of BirdQuest '08. Most of the usual migrants at least made an appearance. Birds commonly seen in the past that were missing this year were American Kestrel, Grebes, Mergansers (except a surprising new species: red-breasted Mergerganser), Cuckoos, Blue-winged warbler, palm warbler, waterthrushes, and Chat. Less common birds seen this year were the Red Breasted Merganser previously mentioned, Blue Grosbeak, Hermit Thrush, Common Loon, Merlin, King Rail, and Least Flycatcher. Many of these birds are getting more and more scarce in Gloucester County.
For some pictures from the event, click on the following link: Bird Quest 2008 Photos.
The East Coast Vulture Festival 2008 was held on Saturday, March 1, 2008.
This year we celebrated our vultures in new ways with events and activities that engaged and entertained adults and young people alike. The third year of this annual celebration and homage to these amazing birds, sponsored by the Gloucester County Nature Club and the Wenonah Environmental Commission, was the most ambitious festival yet. We successfully built on last year’s great success with new events, activities and programs. For more information on the festival, go to our web site at http://www.EastCoastVulturefestival.org. For some pictures from this year's event, click on the following link: Vulture Festival 2008.
Proceeds from the festival are going to support environmental education through the festival’s VEE (Vulturefest Environmental Education) Grant Program.
The Gloucester County Nature Club has brought The Center for Birds of Prey to our area not only to participate in the festival, but also to provide special educational presentations at selected elementary schools in Camden, NJ. These school presentations were funded through the generosity of the Campbell Soup Foundation and the club gratefully acknowledges its support and interest. The East Coast Vulture Festival and its sponsoring organizations, are proud to have joined together with The Center for Birds of Prey and the Campbell Soup Foundation in making these enriching experiences for young people possible and in expanding their awareness of the wonders of the natural world. For some pictures from the school presentation, click on the following link: Vulture Festival Educational Outreach.
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